The term " Khmer Rouge ", French for " Red Khmer ," was coined by Cambodian head of state Norodom Sihanouk and was later adopted by English speakers.

Sihanouk habitually labelled local leftists the Khmer Rouge, a term that later came to signify the party and the state headed by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, and their associates.

* 2004 – King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates, replaced by his son Norodom Sihamoni a week later.

Cambodia's monarchy later saw an unexpected rebirth under an internationally-mediated peace settlement with former king Norodom Sihanouk being restored as a figurehead in 1993.

" Khieu Samphan and Son Sen later boasted to Sihanouk that " we will be the first nation to create a completely communist society without wasting time on intermediate steps.

Sihanouk would turn this ambiguity to his advantage in later years, however.

Sihanouk was the only foreign head of state to attend the funeral of Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam's deceased leader, in Hanoi three months later.

Sihanouk habitually labeled local leftists the Khmer Rouge, a term that later came to signify the party and the state headed by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, and their associates.

This is similar to when King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicated and was later given the title HM King-Father Norodom Sihanouk.

Sihanouk later accused Sirik Matak of harbouring a deep resentment against him, stating that he " hated me from childhood days because he thought his uncle, Prince Sisowath Monireth, should have been placed on the throne instead of myself.

Sihanouk's suspicions seem to have rooted in fact: Prom Thos, one of Lon Nol's ministers, later told the historian Ben Kiernan that in around March 1969 Sirik Matak had argued that Sihanouk should be assassinated, Lon Nol rejecting the plan as " criminal insanity ".

King Norodom Sihanouk ( later, Prince, then again King ), proclaimed Cambodia's independence in 1949 ( granted in full in 1953 ) and ruled the country until March 18, 1970, when he was overthrown by General Lon Nol, who established the Khmer Republic.

* CIA Project Cherry ( USA non-stop assassination project to kill Norodom Sihanouk, Prince, and later King of Cambodia )

However Peter Rodman claimed, " Prince Sihanouk complained bitterly to us about these North Vietnamese bases in his country and invited us to attack them ".

Sihanouk himself claimed that the coup was the result of an alliance between his longstanding enemy, the exiled right-wing nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh, the politician Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak ( depicted by Sihanouk as a disgruntled rival claimant to the Cambodian throne ) and the CIA, who wished to install a more US-friendly regime.

Foreign media subsequently suggested that Sirik Matak, who continued as Lon Nol's deputy in the new government, was the real organisational force behind the coup ; it was claimed that in order to finally convince Lon Nol, Sirik Matak had played him a tape-recorded press conference from Paris, in which Sihanouk threatened to execute them both on his return to Phnom Penh.

This upset the United States greatly and contributed to there view that of Prince Sihanouk as a North Vietnamese sympathizer and a thorn on the United States. However, declassified documents indicate that, as late as March 1970, the Nixon administration was hoping to garner " friendly relations " with Sihanouk.

While visiting Beijing in 1970 Sihanouk was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak in the early hours of March 18, 1970.

The movement gained strength and support in the northeastern jungles and established firm footing when Cambodia's leader Prince Sihanouk was removed from office during a military coup in 1970.

* 1970 – Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

After the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in March 1970, the Viet Cong faced a hostile Cambodian government which authorized a U. S. offensive against its bases in April.

While Sihanouk was abroad during March 1970, there were anti-Vietnamese riots in Phnom Penh.

The Convention which created the Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation ( Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique ) was signed on March 20, 1970 by the representatives of the 21 states and governments under the influence of African Heads of State, Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal, Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, Hamani Diori of Niger and Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

Formally declared on October 9, 1970, the Khmer Republic was a right-wing pro-United States military-led government headed by General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak that took power in the March 18, 1970 coup against Prince Norodom Sihanouk, then the country's head of state.

Branded alternately a communist and an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) by Sihanouk, he remained in exile until Lon Nol established the Khmer Republic in 1970.

The First administration of Sihanouk from 1953 – 1970 was an especially significant time in the history of Cambodia.

When Lon Nol usurped power from Sihanouk in 1970 during a bloodless coup, Hun Nal gave up his education to join the Khmer Rouge.

The party traces its roots to Norodom Sihanouk, the Cambodian independence leader, former King of Cambodia, Prime Minister and latterly Head of State during the period between 1955 and 1970, when his Sangkum regime controlled Cambodia.

Sihanouk was deposed in a March 1970 coup by his cousin, Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak and rightist General Lon Nol, who proclaimed the Khmer Republic that October.

Later that year, Sihanouk recruited the veteran politician In Tam-who had, ironically enough, been one of the main figures behind the 1970 coup-to form FUNCINPEC's armed wing, the Armee Nationale Sihanoukiste ( ANS, Sihanoukist National Army ).

The princes who headed the party-Ranariddh, Sihanouk's half-brother Norodom Sirivudh, and Sisowath Sirirath ( the son of Sirik Matak, who deposed Sihanouk in the 1970 coup )-disagreed violently over corruption, Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge, land reform, and other issues.

General Lon Nol had overhthrown Prince Norodom Sihanouk in March 1970 ; Sihanouk presented himself as a neutralist while aware of the PAVN use of his country.

Former Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, wife of the first Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai-Deng Yingchao, and the former King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk when he fled to Beijing after the Cambodian coup of 1970 all used the 600.

When Sihanouk was deposed in 1970, Cambodia's new leader, Lon Nol, appealed to President Nixon for help in stabilizing his rule.

After the Cambodian coup of 1970 in which Sihanouk was ousted by Lon Nol, Yuon became a part of the GRUNK, the Beijing-based government-in-exile that was formed as a coalition between Sihanouk and the communists.

He led a military coup against Prince Norodom Sihanouk and became the self-proclaimed President of the newly created Khmer Republic.

On 18 March at 0636 Denver reversed her course ; Prince Sihanouk had been deposed by a coup led by the pro-US Sirik Matak and Lon Nol.

He initially refused to commit to the plan ; to convince him, Sirik Matak-who appears to have had a coup in mind from the start-played him a tape-recorded press conference from Paris, in which Sihanouk threatened to execute them both on his return to Phnom Penh.

After the Cambodian coup of 1970, and the subsequent establishment of the Khmer Republic under Lon Nol, Sihanouk was to join with his former Communist enemies in forming the GRUNK, a Beijing-based government-in-exile.

After the coup of 1970 overthrew the government of Sihanouk, the Khmer Communists, including Khieu Samphan, joined forces with the now-deposed Head of State in establishing an anti-government coalition known as the Gouvernement Royal d ' Union Nationale du Kampuchéa ( GRUNK ).

Sirik Matak was mainly notable for his involvement in Cambodian politics, particularly for his involvement in the 1970 right-wing coup against his cousin, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and for his subsequent establishment, along with Lon Nol, of the Khmer Republic.

Sihanouk also assumed his cousin to be the main force behind the coup, claiming that Sirik Matak ( backed by the CIA, and in contact with long-time Sihanouk opponent Son Ngoc Thanh ) had already suggested the plan to Lon Nol as early as 1969.